QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Craig Mordock, a criminal defense attorney in New Orleans, said the lack of accreditation puts him in a position to question the validity of drug evidence NOPD presents in court. Accreditation would assure the public that equipment calibration, standard operating procedures and chains of custody are in proper order, said Mordock, who has represented hundreds of defendants accused of drug offenses. “As defense lawyer, you would say, ‘Well, are these really being done?’ We don’t know because it doesn’t have proper accreditation,” Mordock said. “I think it’s incumbent on all criminal defense lawyers … to start challenging the reliability of the scientific evidence presented in court.”
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY:
STORY: "WDSU (News) investigates former NOPD (New Orleans Police Department): Crime lab employee airs concerns over safety procedures," by Chief Investigative Reports Greg LaRose, and Investigative Reporter Emily Lane of Propublica, published on November 25, 2020. (Thanks to Dr. Michael Bowers of CSIDDS: Forensics and Law in Focus, for drawing our attention to this story, which he sets up as: "Forensics: Former NOPD crime lab employee airs concerns over, safety procedure...Then they force him to take a blood test....Then they force him to take a drug test...A defense attorney tells WDSU the drug lab’s lack of accreditation could impact court cases."
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY:
GIST: "The New Orleans Police Department Crime Lab unit that processes drug evidence is unaccredited and has lacked official certification for years, if not decades, according to documents WDSU has obtained and multiple sources with knowledge of the lab’s history.
This was among the issues a former civilian employee in the NOPD’s drug lab said he shared with his supervisors. Karl Von Derhaar said workplace safety was also one of his pressing concerns, with hazardous chemicals and potentially lethal drugs being handled on site.
The mental stress of not having those and other issues addressed led him to request two weeks off work in early September. Two days later, police showed up at his door unannounced and insisted that he submit to a drug test.
“I wasn't really given an option,” Von Derhaar said. “I even asked multiple times: ‘Can I go back to my home? … Am I under arrest?’ I felt like I was trapped at that point.”
The NOPD rejects the notion that problems exist in its crime lab. In response to questions about Von Derharr’s claims and how his supervisors responded, a department spokesman issued a statement.
“Accusations made concerning the accuracy of equipment and quality of safety protocols in the Crime Lab are categorically false,” the statement said. “Issues raised by a former employee were never brought to the attention of NOPD Supervisors while the employee worked in the Crime Lab and have no basis in fact.”
‘It’s all word-of-mouth’
The lack of accreditation for its drug-testing lab makes NOPD an outlier among its peer law enforcement agencies in Louisiana. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, Baton Rouge Police Department, Shreveport Police Department and Lafayette Police Department all work with or have in-house drug chemistry units with certification from the American National Standards Institute’s National Accreditation Board (ANAB).
Mark Dale led the crime labs for the New York Police Department and New York State Police, and he has authored a book on the management of these facilities. It has been commonplace for around 20 years for law enforcement agencies with crime labs to achieve and maintain accreditation, he said, adding that many states require crime labs to be certified.
“There’s a cost with accreditation, but the significance of when things go wrong may be even more costly,” Dale said. “You could have false acquittals, false convictions, litigation against the department and staff, which goes on and on.”
Dale said one of the key elements of drug lab accreditation is having standard operating procedures -- uniform, how-to methods for testing in case the process is questioned in a court of law. Von Derhaar said such documents did not exist in his department, to his knowledge.
“The NOPD has what they call legacy training for drug chemistry. We don’t have a written procedure. It’s all word-of-mouth, kind of, and what somebody taught them,” Von Derhaar said. “I did ask, I said, ‘Where are our procedures?’ … I was told to get a notebook and write it down.”
WDSU asked the NOPD in October for a copy of its current standard operating procedures. NOPD denied the records request, explaining they were being revised. When asked for the prior version, the police department denied that request, saying they “became inaccessible” following the city’s December 2019 cyberattack.
Craig Mordock, a criminal defense attorney in New Orleans, said the lack of accreditation puts him in a position to question the validity of drug evidence NOPD presents in court. Accreditation would assure the public that equipment calibration, standard operating procedures and chains of custody are in proper order, said Mordock, who has represented hundreds of defendants accused of drug offenses.
“As defense lawyer, you would say, ‘Well, are these really being done?’ We don’t know because it doesn’t have proper accreditation,” Mordock said. “I think it’s incumbent on all criminal defense lawyers … to start challenging the reliability of the scientific evidence presented in court.”
In a statement to WDSU, an NOPD spokesman said its crime lab equipment “is maintained and calibrated regularly to ensure accuracy. The most recent calibration was done by the manufacturer in August.”
The department did not indicate whether it was pursuing accreditation for its drug lab. The ballistics and crime scene investigations units within NOPDs crime lab are ANAB-certified.
‘I don’t know why he showed up’
Von Derhaar resigned from the NOPD Sept. 3 after two ranking police officers who oversee the crime lab, along with a 3rd District NOPD officer, came to his apartment unannounced. His girlfriend and their young son were home at the time. According to Von Derhaar, the police gave him no choice but to go with them to the department’s Public Integrity Bureau to submit to a drug test.
He refused the drug test and resigned on the spot instead. The next morning, Von Derhaar went to an independent medical testing lab to take a drug test. Results provided to WDSU showed Von Derharr tested negative for more than a dozen narcotics.
Four days earlier, Von Derhaar had texted his immediate supervisor, Sgt. Michael Stalbert, to say he wanted to take two weeks off because of stress at work. Von Derharr was sent an NOPD form he needed to complete and said Stalbert reached out to him the next day, Sept. 2, for details about why he wanted time off. The sergeant then came to Von Derhaar’s apartment unannounced.
“I don't know why he showed up. I mean, we just texted and called, I mean, I never expressed I was going to hurt myself or anything. … I don't know why he showed up. But I did not want to answer the door for him,” Von Derhaar said.
The next day, Stalbert came back with his supervisor, Lt. Kim Lewis Williams, and the 3rd District officer, whose body-worn camera captured the encounter.
A police report written about the visit to Von Derhaar’s home classifies it as a medical call. It notes Stalbert and Williams went to see Von Derhaar because after he had “displayed erratic behavior over the last few weeks” and didn’t answer calls or knocks at his door Sept. 2.
Von Derhaar said he was in touch Stalbert over the phone and through text messages before the officers summoned his apartment manager to open his door.
NOPD’s employee drug testing policy requires supervisors to document in writing any behavior leading them to believe the employee might be on drugs the day they notice questionable behavior and to notify the agency’s Public Integrity Bureau. WDSU requested documentation about Von Derhaar’s behavior from the NOPD but was told the record didn’t exist.
The NOPD also declined to answer questions about whether the officers followed proper procedure the day they showed up at Von Derhaar’s home.
‘I find that disturbing’
Although Von Derhaar complied with the officers, the body cam footage raises more questions about whether proper police procedure was followed.
Just after Von Derhaar opens his door, Stalbert says he and the 3rd District officer are going to come into the apartment and “escort” Von Derhaar while he puts on a pair of pants. When Von Derhaar goes to find his pants, Stalbert tells him “we’re coming in.”
WDSU asked an expert in police policy to review the video. Ashley Heiberger, a retired police captain who worked more than 20 years with the Bethlehem Police Department in Pennsylvania, is now a consultant who advises law enforcement agencies across the country on policy, use of force, training and accreditation.
The footage shows the sergeant and the 3rd District NOPD officer entering the apartment, which Heiberger said is problematic because they did not have Von Derhaar’s explicit permission.
“He would have been within his constitutional rights to tell the sergeant to get out of his apartment,” Heiberger said.
The fact that Williams, Stalbert’s immediate superior officer, did not take steps to stop or limit the sergeant’s entry into the apartment also stood out to Heiberger.
“I find that disturbing,” he said.
Although the officers made it clear to Von Derhaar he wasn’t under arrest when they ordered him to come with them downtown, Heiberger said, “at a minimum, I would say that he was coerced.”
The body cam footage shows Von Derhaar reluctantly agreeing to speak to officers just outside his apartment. The 3rd District officer is near his apartment door while Stalbert and Williams speak with Von Derhaar, who was told multiple times he wasn’t under arrest. Von Derhaar told WDSU he complied with police because he feared any resistance would have resulted in his arrest.
The ranking officers told Von Derhaar he couldn’t take his cellphone with him downtown and searched him before he was put inside the 3rd District officer’s police SUV. He was placed in the backseat but not handcuffed. When Von Derhaar’s girlfriend brought his cellphone to police, the 3rd District officer kept it on his front seat and did not give it to Von Derhaar.
‘I couldn't sleep at night’
Von Derhaar said the incident that prompted him to ask for time off involved a directive from his supervisors about how to test marijuana.
He said drug lab chemists had been told to forego a type of test that he believed definitively confirmed the difference between marijuana and hemp. The NOPD has gas chromatography/mass spectrometry equipment for that purpose, but chemists were instructed to use the Duquesnois-Levine color test. Results from the latter, which has been used for decades, are considered presumptive but not conclusive, and multiple studies have questioned their accuracy.
Von Derhaar said that because hemp was recently legalized in Louisiana, he thought the more thorough test was in order.
“To think that I might put someone in jail if I don't do the proper tests … I couldn't sleep at night,” he said.
Concerned by the implications, he said he wrote an email to Stalbert asking for confirmation of the order. WDSU obtained a copy of the exchange in which Stalbert said the lab was to only use the color test on marijuana.
In his few years with NOPD, Von Derhaar said it was clear to him the crime lab was not a priority. His complaints about inadequate ventilation for the civilians who work with dangerous chemicals and controlled substances went unheeded, as have simple requests such as a broom he asked for in November 2019 to clean up broken glass.
“Up until September when I left, I'd never got that broom,” he said.
The entire story can be read at:
